FRANCE: Government hammered in regional elections

Murray Smith, Paris

The verdict in the first round of the French regional elections on March 21 was unambiguous. The electorate massively rejected the right-wing government led by Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin.

Parties supporting the government won just 34% of the votes (down from 42.5% in the 2002 general election that brought it to power). The fact that many ministers headed the government lists in the regions only underlined the scale of the defeat.

The Socialist Party and its Green and Communist allies, standing together or separately, got just over 40% of the vote. The radical anti-capitalist lists of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) and Lutte Ouvriere (Workers Struggle, LO) got 4.58%.

The National Front (FN) of Jean-Marie Le Pen got 14.7% and dissident lists took the far-right total to more than 16%. This was less than Le Pen got in the presidential election in 2002, but slightly up on the last regional elections in 1998. Overall the FN lost some ground in its strongholds but progressed elsewhere.

The results of the LCR-LO lists were slightly better than in 1998, when the two organisations ran separately. They were nevertheless disappointing and well down on the 2002 presidential election. Polls had indicated a score of up to 7.5% nationally, and 8% in the Parisian region, (where they scored 4%). An entusiastic campaign included public meetings filled to overflowing.

There are a number of possible reasons for the low vote. There was no equivalent of the TV broadcasts with equal time for all parties that existed two years ago. The threshold needed to get elected was raised from 5% to 10%, which worked to the advantage of the Socialist Party as voters went for parties sure to get elected.

After being shaken by the mass strike movement last year, the Raffarin government has been further weakened and divided by these elections. A reshuffle is certain, and a change in prime minister likely.

However, with no more elections until 2007, the government has already announced the next instalments of its "reform program" — privatisation of gas and electricity, and "reform" of the labour laws and the health insurance system.

The only way to stop these attacks will be by mass mobilisations on the streets. The extent to which mass opposition develops to the health insurance reform in particular will be a key factor in the European election campaign.

From Green Left Weekly, March 31, 2004.

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From GLW issue 577